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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24937183">More Than Just A Number</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demonwolfkid/pseuds/Demonwolfkid'>Demonwolfkid</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Jedi Finn (Star Wars), Time Travel, Vode An, clone culture</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:13:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,538</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24937183</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demonwolfkid/pseuds/Demonwolfkid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He didn't know why he was here. Doesn't know how.<br/>There's clones, there's a war, and there's a fight to be had.<br/>Finn can roll with the punches. He's had to over the last year.<br/>He needs to find a jedi. This has to be some force nonsense.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Finn &amp; Ahsoka Tano, Finn &amp; Obi-Wan Kenobi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>304</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The world shudders and shakes and there’s a rumble that has to be an explosion and his head </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurts. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Which, all in all, was a pretty average day for him. Both before and after the resistance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He blinks, the black clouds of his vision giving way to a landscape of forests which is strange because last he checked he was in space. Or on a ship. Actually, he was on that godforsaken sith planet that Rey had led them too. He’d just happened to be on top of a ship at the time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another explosion and he was on his feet even though he could barely stand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Right, the war. He needed to move. Preferably not right into the arms of the First Order.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stumbles his way into a run, not really knowing which side he’s running towards, just knowing that being in the middle was a monumentally bad idea.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn was used to working with bad ideas though. He did hand out with Poe and Rey after all. Rose wasn’t exactly level headed either. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He ducks and dodges and weaves his way through the brush. His 6th sense yelling at him just as he skids to a stop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Armor. White armor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who are you?,” a voice asks, training a blaster on Finn. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Shit. Shit. Shit. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>His hands move to his hip and dammit the holster is empty. Which, now that he thinks about it, may have saved his life. He was no quick draw. Not to the degree he’d need to be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But they were asking questions and not shooting first, which was good. Better, actually, than expected.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stand down. It’s a civilian,” another trooper says. The man doesn’t quite hollister his blaster, but it’s something akin to an active rest, so Finn allows himself to relax. If they wanted him dead he’d already be dead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their armor isn’t stormtrooper armor. Not really. It bears similarities, but the design is distinctly different. Finn isn’t an expert on galactic history- force knows he’d only just recently come out of the First Order propaganda education system and even then he’d been a trooper. There hadn’t been much use in having him know anything more than where to point his blaster. So he doesn’t recognize the armor, only knows that it’s not stormtrooper armor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“On our way commander,” the sharp response to an unheard radio catches his attention. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on,” the other man orders. “Unless you want to get fried by the seppies.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Seppies. Separatists. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>knows </span>
  </em>
  <span>that that isn’t normal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they run he scoops down to grab a blaster from a fallen droid. He wasn’t one for shoot first ask questions later, but when someone was shooting at him- and that someone happened to be a droid, he wasn’t going to be too particular.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nice shot,” the one with triangles on the brow of his bucket said. He arched his neck over their cover and pops two off himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nice shot yourself,” Finn grins because there’s something stupidly giddy about a firefight. Something about almost dying that forms bonds faster than anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Names Cobalt,” says the man. “That’s Usher.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Finn,” he responds and they’re running again. They barrel roll into a ditch of some kind, crouching together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How the hell did you find yourself out here?” the other man, Usher, asks him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t know,” Finn answers honestly. “I’m just that lucky.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cobalt snorts. "Lucky enough to be in the middle of a firefight."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What's the plan?" Finn asks instead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Get back to our unit," Usher says. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Simple. Effective. Also, they completely neglected to include running straight into the enemy and </span>
  <em>
    <span>bombing a shield projector</span>
  </em>
  <span> in that plan, but Finn didn't hold it against them. They didn't </span>
  <em>
    <span>want </span>
  </em>
  <span>to include him in that part of their plan. They’d wanted to leave him with the refugees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hours later he loses them when they found themselves back at the Republic armies temporary base. He blends in with the refugees, the dirt and grime of the battle sticking to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gathers by staying quiet and listening that they’re on a small trading planet. That they’d been taken over by the separatists, sold out by their higher powers. The common people had sought the Republic out for help. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their planet was one of refugees to start with, little better than slaves they toiled under the power of the stronger. For the most part they were okay with that. Their lives were still better than that of their fellows on their home planets, so they submitted. Until it wasn’t. Under the separatists they were slaves, thus the uprisings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gets a glimpse of their jedi-general. A large Besalisk. He didn’t like him, there was something wrong about him-something that reminds Finn of his CO’s under the first order, but he was efficient and he got the people loaded up and out of the planet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’re all aboard the fleet when Finn sneaks his way into the supply room and becomes a soldier again. Except now he’s among clones, so he has to be careful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, he wont be lost among the refugees. He needs to be able to travel. To talk to the Jedi, or to someone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s surprisingly easy to blend in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>While the men here had more personality than any of his First Order companions the Besalisk, General Krell didn’t treat them any better than the usual soldier. Which was familiar, if a bit concerning. He thought the Jedi were supposed to be the food guys. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It did, however, make things easier. If he stuck near where the Besalisk was nobody would ask anything of him. In fact he got the general feeling of pity from the clones. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who are you?” One man asks a few days after they’d dropped off the refugees. He’s not wearing his bucket, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You’re not on the rotation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>CT-8930. He’s a captain, and he looked out for the others. There’s nothing really that differentiates the clones. No alternating hairstyles. No marks on their armor. He knows they can tell eachother apart from each other, but he couldn’t. Well, he could, because he had experience filling in the blanks on whos who. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m covering,” he says, standing at attention. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>930 gives him a look, but doesn’t say anything other than to clasp Finn on the arm. “Good man,” he murmurs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Okay…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the time they get to Umbara Finn knows all he wants to know about Krell’s style of leadership. Somehow he’s made it far enough that the other men rely on him. They lose most of that battalion right before Umbara. When they arrive, there’s barely three dozen men left. Of the 404</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’re backing up another Jedi. Anakin Skywalker. Anakin </span>
  <em>
    <span>Skywalker. </span>
  </em>
  <span>As in Luke Skywalker.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Okay, cool. Now they’re getting somewhere. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Except he doesn’t have time to talk to the Jedi knight. Skywalker is shipped off back to Coruscant and he’s left with General Krell and a bunch of blue painted clone troopers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By that point most of Krell’s troopers were gone. Krell pushed them hard and he ran them to the ground with little consideration for their livelihoods. He found out one of the reasons he’d been able to slip in so seamlessly was because they didn’t get attached. They died too often to warrant that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The few men that were left integrated themselves into the 501st. The first day among them was… odd.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Take that bucket off,” One with thick blue stripes down his arms says. “You’re one of the 404, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“708,” Finn responds, pitching his voice just so. With the helmet on it was good enough to match the clone's voice. “We merged with 404 after the last deployment.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The clone cursed, “Yeah, that sounds about right. I heard Krell keeps losing battalions.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Losing. Sacrificing. It was all a matter of word choice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kip, c’mon,” one of the others mutters from his bunk. “You’re scaring the civy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn starts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Man, we’re clones, we all know one of our own,” another, Tinker, says. “And we definitely know when you’re not one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Some of the 404 boys sold you out, as if we couldn’t tell,” a scoff, “Said to keep an eye on you.” the one from the bunk- Walt says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He exhales, removing his helmet. “Why didn’t they say anything?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kip shrugs. “Don’t know. They like you well enough. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with us  ner vod.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re just letting me stay,” Finn looks from one man to another. “Why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We trust our brothers,” Klein says. “And it’s not like I’m going to report anything to </span>
  <em>
    <span>Krell.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Insubordination,” Kip sing songs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Popper slaps him on the back. “Welcome to Nix squadron,” he says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Umbara just keeps getting worse and worse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kip, Tinker and Klein don’t survive the night. Finns not a squad leader or anything, but somehow he gets put in charge of a few of the survivors. Most of the men from 404 do, actually. Maybe Krell thinks it’ll help to keep the 501st in line. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He manages to keep his squad alive. When they come though a man with a handprint on his chest gives him an odd look.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wonders how many of them know.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Or rather, how many of them don’t know.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Things come to a head when they’re tasked with capturing the airbase. There’s troopers in trouble, an execution is slated to take place. Like always, he’s close by, so he’s called to join them. He’s on the execution line. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Rex stays the execution Finn can’t be any happier. He wouldn’t have fired, but there was little he could do in the face of the others. If he’d been the only one…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No, he wouldn’t have been, because they all know this is wrong, and because they’re not just clones. Just like he wasn’t just a first order soldier.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He approaches Rex afterwards. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So why are you impersonating a brother?” he asks mildly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I need to talk to a jedi. A real jedi.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His answer is a grim smirk. “You help me get my men through this and I’ll introduce you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t trust this,” Finn says. “I don’t trust him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have to follow orders,” Rex says. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like you did for the execution?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t understand,” Rex says. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I understand more than you think.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just who are you?” he asks. “Why are you here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I told you. I need to speak to a jedi.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve heard from the others. You’ve been with Krell for the past month. The only reason the men that did survive survived is because you’ve been looking out for them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s the least I can do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They trust you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that a bad thing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe not under Krell, but I don’t know where your loyalties lie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Trust me. I’m just as loyal as you are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rex turns to him. “What’s your name?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Finn.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s something wrong. Something ringing in his mind that feels remarkably like when he first awoken from the mindless drudgery of the First Order. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don't like this,” he says, and Rex, who’s at his side, nods in agreement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me either.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Its a betrayal. They’re made to kill their allies. Their </span>
  <em>
    <span>brothers. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He should’ve listened to his instincts.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Stupid! Stupid!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who’s this?” Marshall Commander Cody asks, his voice ringing with authority.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Finn,” Rex says curtly, and something passes between the two brothers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay then Finn,” Commander Cody says, “What should we know about Krell?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s being held up by the force. He knows the feeling, otherworldly though it may be. Rey’s done it plenty of times</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Except this time it’s by his neck. And he’s choking. And Rex and Cody are at his side shooting off rounds in that instant.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You okay vod?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Never better,” Finn grumbles, already scrambling to his feet. “Let’s get him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“You know,” she’d said, “you’re also force sensitive.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“What?” he’d been bewildered. “You mean like Rey and the General?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She’d shaken her head. “Not quite to that extent,” she’d given him a ghost of a smile. “Even back in the day you probably would've been on the low end of the spectrum, but you are force sensitive.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“So I can’t-” he gestured vaguely.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“With training maybe,” she said, “It won’t come to you as easy as it does Rey. Feel free to try though. My best advice is to know your limits. For the most part, just trust your instincts. Meditate when you can.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rex! Cody!” Ahsoka Tano has never looked so young. Well, that figures all things considered. She is only fifteen or sixteen or so. Not the aged shepherd of the force that he knows mostly by legend. She’d stopped into the resistance once to talk to the General and meet Rey. He’d only run into her by chance. He’d never forget her though.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello littl’un,” Rex sounds bone weary, and while he’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>looked </span>
  </em>
  <span>bone weary for the last week since they’d executed Krell, this is the first time he </span>
  <em>
    <span>sounds </span>
  </em>
  <span>it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I heard what happened,” she says looking from Rex to Cody to Finn, who for once has his helmet off. Once Krell had been deposed of he didn’t really see a point to it anymore. It was fine though, the vode all trusted him apparently. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Nobody trusted him easily. Nobody but Poe and Rey and Rose. Everyone else saw him as a wild card. Sure, he was respected in the resistance, but there was still an underlying current of unease among many of the people there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She exchanges a look with Rex before turning to him. “You must be Finn,” she says, a smile ghosting her lips. “I’m Ahsoka Tano.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” he says. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They fly straight to Coruscant. Most of the men are swapped out for another battalion, and the 501st and 212th are put on temporary leave. Rex, Cody, Jesse, and Fives all come with Finn to the temple. Ahsoka has to wait outside of the chamber.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is your name?” Mace Windu cuts an impressive figure. His voice is hard, his expression unmoving. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“FN-2187 sir,” Finn says. He doesn’t know why, but like Ahsoka said, he trusted his instincts, so he starts with the beginning. His beginning. “Soldier of the First Order. I served under Kylo Ren, Sith apprentice 43 years from now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The explanation is rather simple. He’s from the future. They go round and round talking about it. Deliberating and debating and then they took a recess and released the clones back to the barracks. He knows he needs to talk to Rex and Cody and the others, but they have their orders. Ahsoka grabbed him then, dragging him with her to the yard to meditate because “You’re practically vibrating anxiety Finn. I can feel it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t meditate, he can’t. His mind is too abuz with everything that’s happened. He hadn’t had a moment to stop and think after being dropped in with Krell and the war. Now that he does, well, he can’t stand to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ahsoka notices it and invites him to spar with her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d never had formal training. Not like Rey. They’d spared a few times between the two of them. Rey had often joked that he ended up in as many lightsaber duels as she did so he might as well have the practice. His form is crude and rough in comparison to Ahsoka's fluid movements and athletic prowess, but he holds his own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s something about the rhythmic ache of it all that settles his mind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s called battle meditation,” she says to him afterwards as they with together, sweat dripping from their brows as they heaved big breaths of air. “It’s not the typical way to meditate, but it works. My master likes to meditate by tinkering with electronics.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you think they’ll do to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shrugs, a considering look on her face. “I don’t know,” she says at last. “Your situation is unique, to say the least.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you think I can be trained?” he asks, hopeful. He got why he hadn’t been, really. Leia had tried, but it hadn’t really taken. Not like it had with Rey. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t see why not,” Ahsoka smirked, “I’ll even teach you if the council refuses.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He chuckles. She’s just a kid, for all that he knew of her. Capable and just a bit reckless. She reminds him of Rey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure you will,” he says, bumping her shoulder with his.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will,” she threatens, a broad smile on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s called back into the council chamber alone this time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Finn,” It’s General Kenobi who speaks to him this time. “Tell us what you know.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So he does.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Finn isn’t good at much. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s good at being a soldier though. So when the council asks what he wants to do, he just says he wants to stay with the surviving members of the 404. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When General Kenobi tells him there’s only eight men remaining Finn’s not surprised. Umbara had been hell, and he hadn’t had time to check on any of them. He’s not even sure he knows any of them. Names were hard to come by in Krell’s battalion, only really spoken in the safety of the barracks, and after a while the numbers ran together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kenobi says that the men will be folded into his ranks, and that Finn is welcome among them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When the council meeting is finally over (three freaking hours later) the man escorts him to the halls of healing .</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finns not one to be easily intimidated. And if he were, he figures that Mace Windu would’ve done the trick. But the silence of the short walk is stifling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are force sensitive,” General Kenobi says and Finn nods. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am,” he says. “Barely.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man arches a brow. “The Force isn’t so measurable,” he says. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And yet there's the mitcholorian tests.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Midichlorians,” Kenobi corrects him. “And yes, there are those tests, but the Force works in mysterious ways. You are more than you appear, Finn.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m just a soldier,” he says. “I don’t need to be anything more.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And yet you’ve already gotten my grandpadawan to promise to teach you,” Kenobi’s tone is filled with amusement as Finn blinks at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I did,” Finn admits, hunching his shoulders before forcing himself to relax. He’s hardly a child. He’s not going to be scolded like one. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why didn’t you request training fromthe council?” Kenobi asks. “Rather than a padawan, you could learn from a real master.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn shrugs. “Like I said, I’m just a soldier,” he says, “I’m not powerful or anything. There’d be no point in getting me a real master.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My dear boy I think you’re underestimating yourself,” Kenobi says, before walking forward and taking the lead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Coruscant barracks are little more than a thrown together warehouse district, but it’s theirs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Officers have their own little shoebox to themselves, and Cody, as Marshall commander, has his own little office attached to his unremarkable shoebox.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which is where Finn finds them. Cody, Rex, Jesse and Fives. He doesn’t know Jesse and Fives except as Rex’s go to men, but they’d stood with him at his trial.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s not sure what he’s expecting. He doesn’t even know if they’ve been waiting for him, but it sure as hell seems like they have been.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So,” Jesse says. “FN-2187.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s not quite a question. But not quite not a question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cloning got expensive,” he says, because he can at least address that much. “It was easier to just steal new recruits after a while.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And they just gave you numbers?” Fives seethed. Finn shrugs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We didn’t know any different.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What was it like?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like Krell’s battalion. Worse. Mind wipes were common.” Finn shrugs. Maybe that’s why it hadn’t bothered him so much. Nobody in the Resistance had ever asked. They didn’t have to. But for these men individualism mattered. It mattered because they were clones. For him to think nothing of it… well. It just didn’t sit right with them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We didn’t know any better,” Finn says in response to their silence. “So long as you followed orders you were fine. They didn’t need us to think.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you were sacrificial pawns,” Jesse says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Calm down vod-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We lost man!” Jesse explodes. “How else could this have happened?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well obviously. That’s why he’s here.” Cody speaks up. “What’s the plan, Commander?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Commander?” Finn asks, shaking his head. “I’m staying with the men, but I’m no commander.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cody eases back into his chair. “Every Padawan is a commander.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Padawan?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jedi learner,” Rex provides.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not a padawan.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not what the general said,” Cody’s smirking at him now. So is Rex, and Jesse, and Fives.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Welcome vod, to the 212th.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s not allowed to sleep in the barracks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead he’s given a room in the temple. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rather, he rooms with General Kenobi at the temple.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not your padawan.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, you are not,” the man says ambly as he makes tea. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then why-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are however an experienced soldier under my charge, thus one of my men, and will be taught how to use the force. The rank is befitting you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And the room?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I never moved out of these quarters after my last padawan became a knight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You have an answer for everything. Don’t you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d like to think so.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn rolls his eyes, but accepts the tea.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hanger, Tongue-Tied, Demo, Quips, Alternate, Buster, Million, and Cinch are those who survived. Most of them hadn’t had a name before they joined the 212th, but they did now. They all bore their yellow stripes proudly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’re given to Finn as his squadron, and he can’t help but to feel grateful to Kenobi for that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s looking forward to his first mission with the 212th. They partnered with the 501st again, heading to the planet Kiros.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t know what the jedi are doing about Palpatine. He doesn’t know if he wants to know. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So he focuses on Kiros. And on Ahsoka. Who is vibrating with anxiety. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t tease me,” she rolls her eyes at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s payback,” he says. Her attitude and forced casualness is a balm to the whole situation. He doesn’t know quite where he stands with Kenobi, and Skywalker is- well, he’s Skywalker. He knows the rumors. General Organa had even confirmed some of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The men, the vod (and they call him vod to, isn’t that something?) are at his side as he guns down the droids from atop a speeder. He flat out refuses the sidecar. Ahsoka laughs at him, but he’s not going to be jumping around and abandoning his bike, thank you very much. He’ll leave the theatrics to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cody handles the larger deployments as they go searching. By the time they get back there’s a message from the slavers. To which Skywalker reacts badly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shouldn’t he have been to a mindhealer about his obvious trama?” Finn muses to his men as Kenobi talks with Ahsoka. Cody snorts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good luck on that one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kenobi goes to negotiate. Rex and Cody organize the men. Ahsoka and Skywalker go off </span>
  <em>
    <span>somewhere. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He’s no bombsquad, nor is he qualified to be making those kind of calls, so he leaves it for Skywalker and Ahsoka to take care of.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hurry up and wait was the name of the game when it came to military actions, he found.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The communicator continues its relay though. Kenobi was a bit preoccupied to be worrying about cutting the feed. Finn was monitoring it as well as waiting for word from Skywalker and Ahsoka. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Now I’ll take revenge for my people, Jedi,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> the Zygerrian growled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sir-” a droid begins.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“General, you’re good to go,” Finn says, and there’s silence for a moment, then a crashing of a sort. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Incoming,” Kenobi yells off the comm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s an explosion up top, but Finn sees the Zygerrian making a break for it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“After him!” Finn and his squad had been on bikes, and Kenobi jumped aboard his as they blew past. “Show off!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Focus!” the tense situation didn’t quell Kenobi’s good humor it seemed. Skywalker and Ahsoka launch themselves at the ship, and Finn accelerates to let Kenobi do the same. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the time they crash land the ship back down to the planet, D’nar is captured, and Kenobi looks worried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is a bad idea,” Finn says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re repeating yourself,” Ahsoka hums as she adjusts her new ensemble. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because no one is listening,” Finn grumbles. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I agree that the mission is questionable. That’s why you and Cody are standing by as backup,” Kenobi sounds far more confident than he had any right to be, considering he’d just been voicing his worries to Skywalker a moment ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chances are the slaves are being held off world,” Finn says. “It’s too obvious to keep them on world.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We will keep your comments in mind,” Skywalker says, patting Finn on the shoulder as they pass to load up on the transport.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why is it nobody listens to me?” Finn asks aloud. Cody huffs a laugh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Their trackers are moving,” Finn reports. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Million glances up from where he’s cleaning his blasters. “Can’t believe you did that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I did, and they’re moving. Something’s gone wrong. They’re heading off world. Hanger, get Cody. I’m going to talk to the Admiral.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Copy that,” Hanger salutes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Finn!” Ahsoka grins. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think it’s about time we get you out of there,” Finn says. Quips and Alternate appearing at his side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where’s Anakin?” Ahsoka asks as they drag the cage up and over. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, out with the queen,” Finn says, handing Ahsoka her lightsabers. “They didn’t catch the trackers I put on Kenobi and Rex. I figured we could speed things up a bit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ahsoka’s grin is all predator. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finding Skywalker is surprisingly easy. Ahsoka knocks out the guards and Finn catches him up as they run.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We need to go."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Why? We don’t know where the colonists are!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, we do,” Finn says. “Come on, General Kenobi needs saving.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well when you put it like that.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Your men are attacking,” Kenobi is roused from his sleep and dragged in front of the Zygerrians to be told this. “Stop them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s shoved in front of a holotable. It’s not Anakin, who would be the usual one to jump the gun. Instead it’s Cody and his own men.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do hope you know what you’re doing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Always, General. Finn sent us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh goody, another one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His squad’s on the ground with Ahsoka and Skywalker.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We need to shut down the cannons,” Finn shouts. “You two go on ahead.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay Finn!” Ahsoka nods, and Finn turns towards his men. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Those towers are ray shielded. We need to shut down the shields or hit them with enough power to take em down.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Take one over and we can get the rest,” Buster says, and Finn grins. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s get to it men.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like the art.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It does serve his likeness,” Cinch smirks. “The wolfpack is one of the most loyal groups out there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The resistance took up residence in a bunch of old bases from the various wars.” Finn says. “I didn’t realize some of the graffiti was yours.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It lived on?” Tongue-Tied grins, high-fiving Quips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn grins, because this is brotherhood. Something he hadn’t felt since being with Poe and Rey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Incoming,” Million says as he slaps Quips on the shoulder. “Let’s go boys.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You did well, Finn.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, General.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Moralo Eval</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t familiar with the name. Obi Wan is getting ready to go out with Skywalker and Ahsoka. He’s been regulated to remedial studies. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I trust you’ll be able to keep out of trouble,” Obi Wan has a way of directed speech that puts most generals to shame.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh-hu,” and doesn’t he feel like a petulant teenager, but come on, he was doing homework for Force sake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry too much now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not,” Finn grumbles, sliding a finger down the datapad. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Obi Wan is fussing more than usual, so he keeps an eye on the man. “What’s going on?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m just prepping.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn hums, non believing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are certain he fell?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’ve never spoken of the future. Not outside of the occasional council meetings. Finn only had main points. Palpatine had been Emperor, the Sith Lord Darth Vader had ruled at his side. Luke Skywalker had destroyed the Death Star with General Organa and years later it came out that Anakin Skywalker, hero of the clone wars, was Darth Vader. General Organa’s son, grandson had fallen and the First Order had reigned supreme.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Broad strokes. The Council was annoyed that he didn’t know anything more. When they got extra annoyed he’d remind them that he was a Stormtrooper. That he’d been raised with a number. That usually shut them up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am. I knew General Organa. She confirmed everything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Zygerria was a mistake,” Kenobi admits. “There’s a darkness in him, Finn, and I don’t know what to do about it. I’m afraid I have not been a very good Master. To you or to him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t ask you to be my Master,” Finn says, not for the first time. He really isn't the one to be talking about this. He's not qualified for this kind of talk, but Obi Wan doesn't seem to want to move, and Finn doesn't exactly want him to leave, not with the mood he's found himself in. So, he takes a breath and says, “And I don’t think a Master is something Skywalker needs.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know."</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Basically, Finn's interferance mostly just makes the mission shorter, cutting what I think was a three day mission (infiltration/caught-transport/work- more work/release) into a two day mission. </p><p>Also, Finn is so not the therapist type. Obi Wan, do you even know who you're talking to??</p><p>Do I know where this is going? Kinda? Not really?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Obi Wan Kenobi was dead</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Except, he wasn’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Moralo wanted to kill the Chancelor, and the Jedi council couldn’t just standby and let that happen. (“Why not?” he’d asked, to which he’d received a rather unimpressed glare from several members of the council.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m worried about Anakin,” Ahsoka admits to him. It’s after the funeral, and shes back from talking to some of her friends or something. He hadn’t hung around. The council had made him aware of their plans- as his </span>
  <span>padawan</span>
  <span> roommate and as their resident time-traveler they’d thought he should know so he didn’t let something slip. “Something isn’t right about all this,” she continues.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn doesn’t answer, and Ahsoka looks at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know something,” her tone is more curious than accusatory, but still just a bit accusatory.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He grunts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Spill.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shouldn’t. He’s been given very explicit instructions not to. But this is Ahsoka, and she deserved to know. So did Skywalker. They’d already played their part in the charade. Knowing them, they’d pull a Poe and go against orders if they thought it was right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d never been great at taking orders anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m from the future,” he says. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ahsoka’s eyes widen, and there’s a look of smug satisfaction on her face before it dissolves into something considering. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh.” She’d known the circumstances around Finn were odd, just not that odd. And if he was from the future and he wasn’t sad or upset then…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh,” she says again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I hear you’re going to Ilum.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The council seems to want me offworld. I wonder why.” He doesn’t really. He’s rather inclined to let the muder attempt on the chancellor go through. Ahsoka assumes it has something to do with spilling his secret. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jokes on her, they don’t know.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I told Anakin that you discovered Obi Wan was alive,” she says. “It’s kind of true. You knew, and you told me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lie, that is,” Finn croaks in a poor attempt to imitate Yoda and she giggles. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think it helps if you were also in the dark,” she admits. “He doesn’t get along with the council, and he treats it more personally than he should.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where is he?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Probably with the Senator or the Chancellor.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn hesitates, but, well, he’s already told her that he was from the future…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Keep General Skywalker away from the Chancellor.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ahsoka narrows her eyes, trying to see through the haze. She’s smart, always has been. He’s counting on it. “Is he dangerous?” she asks at last.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn doesn’t answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It won’t be easy,” she says, deciding, it seems, to trust him. “My Master trusts him a good deal.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who else does he trust?” Finn asks. He doesn’t know why or how Anakin Skywalker, hero of the Clone Wars fell, but that seems as good of a reason as any. Hell, Ben Solo had fallen just because his dear old granddad was evil once. People didn’t need a reason to suck, but sometimes it helped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shrugs. “Senator Amidala? Obi Wan? You?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t know quite why Anakin Skywalker would trust </span>
  <em>
    <span>him </span>
  </em>
  <span>but that’s a problem for another day. “Just, stick close to him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t see why we don’t just let them kill him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mace Windu gives him a rather unimpressed look. “What would you have me do? Allow the assassination attempt to happen?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe. It’s Palpatine. He deserves to die.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anger is not the way of the Jedi.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luckily I’m not a Jedi then.” Honestly, the more he learns about the Jedi, the more he’s certain he’d be a rather poor Jedi. He’s not one to murder, but he’s not against shooting an unarmed man if it came to it. He’s a soldier first, not a Jedi.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We are peacekeepers-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If he died the war would be that much closer to ending.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It is not the way things are done.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well maybe the way needs to change!” Finn glares at the man. “The Jedi don’t survive this war, remember? Maybe you could stand to do things a bit differently.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“General Skywalker.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know Finn, you can call me Anakin,” he seems tired. Bone weary.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, Anakin,” Finn says, the name stange on his lips. Skywalker had called him. He’s not sure why. They’re not friends. Not really, but anyone can see that Anakin is not okay. “How are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anakin blinks, surprise evident. He opens his mouth, likely to lie, but he decides not to. “Worried.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah me too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ahsoka tells me they’ve shipped you off to Illum.” He’s on the transport as they speak, the droid that apparently accompanies people to Illum was below deck doing something or other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They figured it was time for me to get a ‘saber.” he would’ve been thrilled at any other time, but war, fighting, politics. Things were getting muddled, and honestly he wasn’t sure about anything anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now? They couldn’t have thought of a better time?” Skywalker is annoyed, and Finn grimaces.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pretty sure I annoyed them. It’s okay though,” he shrugs. He’s always been better at handling things as they came. Plus, he knows there’s no real consequence. Or rather, he doesn’t particularly care about the end result. Palpatine can go die for all he cared.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They don’t trust you,” Skywalker growls. “Just like they didn’t trust me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t like it either!” he slams his fist on the console, and Skywalker blinks at him in surprise.  He’s more pissed that they hadn’t planned on telling anyone at all. That Obi Wan hadn’t actually left any of them a message. That they had expected him to sit by as his friends hurt. “At least you can do something about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get yourself a lightsaber Finn,” Skywalker says after a moment, calmer now. “And catch up. I have a feeling Obi Wan is going to need all the help he can get.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The planet is ice cold. It sinks through his bones and his boots. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hears echos. Reminders of a world, no, of a time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A time he’s no longer a part of.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rey!” he spins, her voice calling to him. “REY!”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Let go</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The world, the Force tells him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t have to,” he grumbles, the anger is there, but beyond that, determination. “You’ve already made me.” He closes his hands, “I will fight this war. And I will end it. Here and now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The stalks forward. Into the darkness, into the cold. His trials weren't over yet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By dawn he has his crystal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He lands on Naboo after most of the fun’s already been had.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I told Anakin,” he hisses to Obi Wan, who gives him a look. “You should have.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was necessary for him to be kept in the dark.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you expected me to sit by,” He glares at Obi Wan, who has the decency to duck his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Obi Wan,” Skywalkers arms are folded, but he smirks at them. “I see you made it back in one piece.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are they always like that?” Finn asks Ahsoka as they double check the safety measures for the Queen and her entourage. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like what?” she asks, hands clasped loosely behind her back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn searches for the right words, but all he can come up with is “Dysfunctional.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ahsoka’s laugh is high and open and he grins. She’s still a kid after all. More of a kid than he’d ever been.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” she manages at last. Finn smirks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They should talk.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>men</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she bemoans. When Finn’s smirk broadens and punches him in the arm. “Don’t smirk. You’re just as bad, “I’m from the future” what the hell?!” she punches him again for good measure.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Finn spent most of his time on Coruscant at the Jedi Temple. It was mostly because he didn’t really have anywhere else to go. He wasn’t proactive, he supposed. Poe would be all up in the underworld making contacts and trouble as he went. Rey would throw herself into the Jedi training, happy to have a full cast of people willing to train her. Rose would- well he wasn’t exactly sure what Rose would do. She was a commander, but a mechanic and engineer first. She’d never really wanted to be a soldier, he knew, no matter how well she fit the mold.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So he sat, and studied, and did whatever was offered. Often he trained with the youngling instructors or with Obi Wan or Anakin. He learned that he didn’t have much of a talent for most things traditionally Foce related. He could do the basics, move a rock, levitate if he tried hard enough, and strengthen his muscles to extend his stamina, but it wasn’t special. His real talents laid in fighting, his saber skills evolving as he learned the forms and katas, his </span>
  <em>
    <span>feelings </span>
  </em>
  <span>lending him just enough foresight to stay out of trouble.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Besides, it wasn’t as if they were on Coruscant much to begin with. Even if Kenobi had stuff to do at the Temple the men would occasionally be sent out, and Finn would usually choose to go with them. Deployments were often back to back, and though battlezones were common, so were relief missions and humanitarian efforts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Buster and Million were gone now, and Hanger was out, probably for good. Finn didn’t know what they did with clones who couldn’t fight. He didn’t want to know. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Tongue-Tied asked him to help Hanger disappear he did. Because he knew, on some level.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were only five of them left from the 404, six, if he counted himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had no idea what the council was doing. If it was doing anything at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Onderon has succeeded.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh?” Finn grimaces blinking up at Obi Wan. The lights had been flicked on with his arrival, and Finn was still blinking away the dots in his vision.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Onderon has succeeded,” he repeats, though he looks like he wants to comment that reading in low light was bad for ones eyes. Again. “Anakin insisted on going to help the resistance, and so so are we.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why?” Finn asks. “Isn’t their king officially on the side of the Separatists? This doesn’t seem like your kind of issue.” He’d just read as much in the recent data-log Windu had sent him. Figured this was why.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t know you were keeping up with the news,” Obi Wan grins in good humor. He gives him a look. “You are not interested in this? I thought- given your history with the resistance-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not one to jump at a cause just because it’s there,” Finn says, though he knows even as he says it that his words aren’t quite true. Sure, he’d resisted the resistance on principal, but he’d joined the Clone War two hours after he’d arrived. He was always ready for a good fight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you’re not interested,” amusement came off of the older man in waves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn rolls his eyes. “Yes, Obi Wan, I’m coming with. No need to be prim about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re a bit rough around the edges, aren’t they?” Obi Wan remarks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not really,” Finn grins. He’s having fun, and Obi Wan knows it. These rebels are quick learners, tough and responsible. “Standard stuff, for a resistance.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re rebels.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finn shrugs. Obi Wan had a rather restrictive view of things, he found. Not as restrictive as, say, Mace Windu. He was more than willing to bend the rules for a good cause, but he had an insistent need to be right. He liked things to be by the book, or at the very least, liked to pretend he was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’re here to consult, not aid. As a non-jedi only loosely affiliated with the army (more than loosely, but his presence was tenuous at best) he had introduced himself as an independent contractor. A friend of any planet that wants the Separatists off their land. They’d taken him at his word, but he did have the Jedi vouching for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rex is doing a good job at training the rebels, and so is the commander, distracted as she was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, as her Master I really shouldn’t tease her.” He and Anakin had gotten closer since the Rako Hardeen incident. They were roughly the same age, weren’t very well liked by the council, and Skywalker could relate to having a hard time with the temple teachings. Of course, his problem was the opposite of Fins, too much power versus too little, but still.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skywalker also knew something was up with him. It was an open secret, considering Finn had first appeared with the 501st. He hadn’t asked about it yet, which was surprising.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well there’s nothing stopping me,” Finn grins. He fits in better here than he does at the temple. He’s taken to wearing the clone's blacks and his jacket, if only because blacks were an easy resource. It reminded him of when he’d first met Rey, fresh from the First Order.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re crushing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up,” she hissed at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s a bit posh for you, don’t you think?” He’s grinning, and he knows it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>talking to you about this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Skywalker thinks so too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>talking to my Master about this,” she is positively red now. His grin only widens and she punches him. “Finn!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, we’re protective of our cute little padawan,” Finn grins, dodging her punch this time. “Aren’t you supposed to be teaching a lesson?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to kill you,” she says, before stalking away. He laughs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knows Skywalker is going to have to pressure her to keep her focus and keep away from attachments (hypocrite) but he had no such qualms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leia was a (non)jedi and she had a husband and a kid. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sneaking inside Iziz is just like old times. You know, if old times included two jedi, a trainee, a clone, and a deserter sneaking into a market.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That sounded like a bad joke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know cloaks just make them look more suspicious,” Finn notes to Rex as they hunt droids. There’s enough of the general populace wearing bits of armor and padding that the rest of them don’t stand out, but really, the Jedi could do to get some civies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but try telling a Jedi that,” he grunts. Rex isn’t the most talkative of the vode. He got along more with Ahsoka than with Finn, though Finn suspected that the man was mostly just resigned to his fate on that one. Still, he trusted Rex, and he knew Rex trusted him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t sure, but Finn thought he recognized the markings on his helmet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not sure we’re quite balancing on the line of consulting versus helping,” Finn notes as they gun down another set of droids. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was produced to fight the Separatists,” Rex shrugs. “They haven’t ordered me against fighting.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which was fair. It was the Jedi that had the qualms. Honestly, Finn thought these rebels were fairly well outfitted. Hope would prevail and all that. Maybe people here just weren’t as used to working with nothing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve got a question, what qualifies the jedi to lead a rebellion. Jedi are all about unity and peace, right? What kind of experience do they have with a rebellion?” Finn had been left behind with Ahsoka, who was unamused by his questions. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not that they did a bad job at counseling the rebels. Their points were sound and they were far more eloquent than Finn would ever be, but honestly, what did they know of fighting in a rebellion? They had resources, enough money to maintain an army of literal thousands of men. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was taking a break from teasing Ahsoka, and there was enough tension between Steela and Saw that he didn’t feel like touching that with Rey’s six foot pole.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The last week had been interesting, to say the least. He dressed down to play the part of a rebel as Ahsoka did her jedi thing. Tensions keep get higher, and Steela proves herself a capable leader. Had they had someone like her in the Resistance, things would have gone much more smoothly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’s capable and level headed, balancing the two boys in a way that most wouldn’t be able to. He’s glad. He knows of Saw Gerrera, he was a legend in his own right. A maverick, and an outlaw, he’d been instrumental in the Rebel cause back in the day. It was a privilege to see where he started. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“So how was your chat?” he hadn’t been listening in persay, but Ahsoka hadn’t been hiding- not that there was much room to hide. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sighs. “Purpose before order,” she quotes wirely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t save everyone,” Finn says, leaning against the wall. “You know that. This is their war. We’re already in a tricky place just being here. The Jedi don’t act independently of the Republic right now, and we could be seen as an invasion if we get caught here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” she gripes, “How do you even know that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a time traveler Finn didn’t exactly come loaded with future anecdotes. He barely knew what was going on with the war most days. He was a capable leader for individual missions, but the bigger picture was largely lost on him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Remedial classes,” Finn reminds her. It was how he spent a majority of his time. “I’m helping tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sighs. “Of course you are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t recognizable. When he fought beside Kenobi he dressed the part of a clone trooper. Maybe someone somewhere had footage of him with his bucked off, but it was unlikely. He’d only been on a few deployments anyway. There was a safety in obscurity, and the clone’s armor was both more comfortable than stormtrooper armor and more protective. Ironic, considering the ‘improvements’ that had supposedly been made over time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looks at her, and sees the conflict in her gaze. “If it matters that much to you, I won’t,” he offers. “They’ll understand. They know I’m with you, even if I’m not a Jedi.” He has his saber- Obi Wan had given him a rather unimpressed look when he asked if he should bring it (“A Jedi’s saber is his life”) but he’d yet to use it on planet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, do what you feel is best,” she shakes her head. “I am a Jedi. You aren’t. This is my burden to bear.” She straightens herself, her decision made. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Things had gone to shit just about as quickly as they could. Which wasn’t a huge surprise, but for once he’d love for sa mission to go off without any complications.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He saw Ahsoka running forward, but he’s closer. He launches himself forward, but there’s too many of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t have time to think.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He just </span>
  <em>
    <span>acts. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wasn’t seen, but Finn was,” Ahsoka reports, and Obi Wan and Anakin both scowl. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought we were in agreement that you weren’t to draw attention to yourself,” Obi Wan says, in that diplomatic way it almost didn’t seem like a scolding. Almost. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not like I pulled out my lightsaber,” Finn says. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even know I could do that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Force pushes like that were beyond his normal abilities. He’d been hanging back, waiting. When the general stepped in, he’d stepped up, taking over just before Ahsoka leapt into the fray. He hadn’t thought, just pushed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s the chances that nobody reported it?” Finn asks, knowing as he does that it’s a fool's errand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We need to help them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll do what we can to relocate the survivors.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Before they lose their planet,” Anakin growls. It’s not right. They should be able to act.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Finn's actions and the rumors make out involvement questionable, but not certain. The Jedi interfering any further would risk further altercations.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What if the Jedi don’t interfere?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Obi Wan, ever quick on the uptake, looks at his former Padawan. “Who in the galaxy would be running around with an extra batch of missiles?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anakin grins. “Hondo.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t do anything?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Her statement rang with finality. She’s standing calmly in the middle of the battlefield. If a shot could be directed at her, she could at least dodge it. Maybe they’d waste their charges on her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Saw growled as he hunched under cover. “Then why can he?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He wasn’t lying when he said he wasn’t a jedi,” Ahsoka says, a grim little smile on her face. Finn isn’t using his lightsaber, but his spirit rang with the force as he pulled others out of the way on incoming projectiles.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know what I saw,” </span>
  <em>
    <span>everyone </span>
  </em>
  <span>knows what they saw, but no one is willing to confirm it. Their presence is tenuous at best.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s independent,” Ahsoka says. “But he is strong in the Force</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So does Anakin regularly associate with pirates?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t say regularly,” she grins</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ahoka had disappeared back behind the main lines and reappeared with rocket launchers. Her brief explanation of “Pirates!” did nothing to stem his curiosity.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You coming?” Ahsoka yells as she forces jumps onto the back of the local flying creature (he hadn’t bothered learning the name) Finn follows her example, and follows after.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ahoka saves the boy and reaches out to do the same for Steela.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s a feeling. A ringing. A warning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Getting shot really sucks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Steela survives to fight another day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>%%%%</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You did well,” General Kenobi says, glancing over to Ahsoka as she speaks with Bonteri. “You both did well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We got lucky,” Finn says, shifting as his shoulder twinges. “But you know that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was the will of the Force,” Kenobi smiles into his beard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s just his way of saying you’re welcome,” Anakin smirks. “I’m glad that you both made it out safely.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Anakin</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? The Force didn’t ask Hondo to send in the big guns- I did.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I was attempting to edit the next chapter to The Loyalty Principal and having no luck, and then this happened. Idk if I'll continue it, but yeah. </p><p>Inspired by<br/>Esprit de Corps by meridianpony<br/>Padawan Finn (Or when Finn time travels and doesn't understand family) by ShadeCrawler</p></blockquote></div></div>
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